Police hail success of DWI program

CROMWELL - Pleased with the success of a state-funded program aimed at collaring drunken drivers, police intend to apply for a similar grant to continue their efforts in the coming year.

Using funds supplied in part by the state Department of Transportation's division of highway safety, police ran a series of enforcement efforts from November 2005 to September of this year as part of a concerted effort to reduce the number of drunken drivers on the road.

In all, Captain Roy A. Nelson said, the department made 21 DWI arrests because of the program.

But that was far from the only success generated by the effort, he added.

In a memo to Chief Anthony J. Salvatore, Nelson said the program also resulted in two criminal arrests, the issuance of 31 summonses/infractions and an additional 39

infractions for seat-belt

violations.

In addition, Nelson said, the department also gave out 298 warnings for various equipment and/or seatbelt

violations.

The grant, which expired Sept. 8, was worth $27,000, Salvatore said. The town makes a contribution, although the state picks up 75 percent of the total expense and the town 25 percent.

Given the success of the program, the chief said, the department is intent upon applying for a $30,000 grant for next year. He and Nelson are scheduled to go before the Board of Selectmen next week to ask the board to endorse the grant request.

This was the fifth year the town has used the grant to mount the anti-drunken driving program, Salvatore said. "Over that time, we have seen increases, and in some cases significant increases, in enforcement action."

As he reviewed Nelson's memo, Salvatore commented, "As you can see, the officers did an outstanding job in all areas of inspection and enforcement."

The advantages of the program are multiple, the chief added.

"This program allows us to put additional patrols on the street in an effort to identify and remove drunken drivers - and to do so at little or no cost to the town. Without this program, the additional patrols would negatively affect our budget," he said.

Nelson said the grant dollars allowed the department to mount both roving patrols and to establish DWI checkpoints.

In the 10 months that were covered by the most recent grant, he said the department mounted "63 directed patrols" and conducted three checkpoints. The patrols resulted in 399 "motor-vehicle contacts," Nelson said, while there were another 490 contacts made as a result of the checkpoints.

Salvatore said Nelson had applied for the grant and oversaw its implementation. Sgt. Michael Wren was assigned to monitor the program, he said, as he praised the efforts of both of the senior officials.